


Breathe

by LadyVin



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Bumped to T because Ellie has the mouth of a sailor, Dina is also a disaster but waaaay better at hiding it, Ellie is a disaster lesbian, F/F, Fluff, I don't know how to tag this, Light Angst, Nightmares, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, farming, other than language it's G tho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-05-28 03:47:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15040007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyVin/pseuds/LadyVin
Summary: Dina stumbles across Ellie while carrying fresh strawberries, and something begins to take root.





	1. Strawberries

Ellie reacts in an instant, lunging forward and stretching her arms out to steady the falling girl in front of her. Her hands close around another set of hands holding a wooden crate filled with small red fruits. “Woah there, thanks Ellie! I almost lost the first crop of strawberries,” says the girl. Ellie recognizes her as Dina, the settlement’s gardener.

“Oh, uh... you’re welcome, Dina. Those are strawberries? They’re much bigger than the ones I’ve seen...” Ellie replies.

“That’s likely because you’ve only seen wild strawberries. The domesticated ones are much bigger. Wanna try one?”

“Uh, yeah, ok,” replies Ellie.

Dina looks down, then back up at Ellie’s face. “You can let go of my hands now, honey, I’m not gonna fall again.”

Ellie blushes redder than the strawberries and stammers out apologies, but Dina simply laughs and shakes her head, putting the crate on the ground. She sorts through the fruits, carefully picking the biggest one from the bottom of the pile. “Here you go, try this one.”

Ellie takes it and bites into it slowly, feeling the rough seeds give way to tender insides as the taste explodes across her tongue.

“The bigger ones tend to be the sweetest. At that size, it’s gotta be almost as sweet as you are!” Dina says, and Ellie almost chokes on the strawberry. Dina laughs again, and Ellie is spared any further embarrassment as Joel calls out.

“Ellie! There you are. Come on now, we’re supposed to go hunting before it gets dark,” he says, passing Ellie.

“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” Ellie chokes out.

“I gotta get these to the kitchens, but I’ll see you around Ellie,” Dina smiles. She picks up her crate and walks past, her heavy work boots leaving deep prints in the damp ground.

“Ellie,” Joel says again, snapping her out of her reverie. “Go get your bow.”

“R-right, yeah,” Ellie mutters before heading for the gear room.

* * *

 After Ellie’s third missed shot, Joel speaks up. “So, Dina, hunh?”

“Oh, shut up Joel,” snaps Ellie. Her fourth shot doesn’t miss.

* * *

 

Lightning flashes, and Ellie whimpers. A person stands in front of her, and in the fading glow she sees a face, hard, with eyes full of confidence and bravado. A bandana holds her brown hair off her face. Tess. Lightning flashes again, and Tess is on the ground, fungus growing out of the bullet wounds in her corpse.

Lightning. Another face, young, dark skinned, eyes lit by the glow of merry-go-round lights. It’s Riley. “No,” Ellie mutters. “Stop-”

Lightning, and Riley is dead, her head dented on the side, spores floating around her. Ellie looks down and she’s holding a bloody piece of pipe.

“No!” She screams, dropping the weapon. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I had to-” The pipe hits the ground and bursts into spores, blocking her vision until-

Lightning. A woman, facing away. She turns, and is holding in her arms a baby, wrapped in blankets, holding a familiar letter. She can only make out a few words, but she knows it’s her mother’s letter. Her mother flips over the paper, and instead of its normal words, scrawled on the paper in what looks like blood is YOUR FAULT.

Lightning, and Anna is gone, the baby laying on the ground, crying.

Lightning, Marlene reaching out a hand to touch the baby.

Lightning, Marlene lies in a pool of her own blood.

Lightning, and the baby is a child now, scared eyes and a knife in her hand. Lightning and Winston is dead on his horse, Avery dead in her military gear that was always too big for her, Ryan lying on the ground, limbs at weird angles.

Lightning, Sam and Henry around the child, lightning and they are dead.

Lightning, and the child is a teenager, and she stands in a field of dead fireflies.

Lightning, and Ellie finds herself staring at herself as if in a mirror. She looks down and her hands are red again, and-

Lightning, and Joel is staring at her, betrayed, hands to a wound in his side. Lightning, and Dina is there with her fresh strawberries, now all fallen to the ground, dirty and rotten. Ellie screams out—

 

* * *

 

And she wakes, violently, eyes damp with tears and chest heaving. She fumbles for her lamp, never more grateful for the dam’s electricity than in this moment. She stands on shaky legs and walks to the window. She can see Carl and Jessica on watch, which means it’s at least 4 am. Ellie opens the window and breathes the fresh air. Just a dream, you’re ok, it’s all in the past, Joel and Dina are ok... Ellie has never been able to fall back asleep after that dream, so she reaches for her guitar and twists the pegs, tightening and loosening where needed until the guitar’s strings were in tune. She plays through all the songs she knows, and some that she doesn’t know, before the sun rises. Her fingers are sore as she puts down the guitar, but it’s a welcome soreness, gives her something to focus on.

Ellie walks to the dining hall of the settlement, passing Carl and Jessica on their way back to the gear house. She’s the first to arrive, besides the day’s chefs, and Ellie sits alone by the window. She startles as a bowl is placed in front of her. “Strawberry oatmeal, with extra sugar,” Dina says as she sits down with her own bowl across from Ellie. “Chef’s privilege. How was your hunt?”

“Not bad, but I think the deer are getting scared of us now,” Ellie replies, trying to get the image of rotten strawberries out of her mind. Dina begins telling a story of something crazy Garrett did the other day, and Ellie eats the sugary oatmeal, listening less to the words and more to the lilt of Dina’s voice as she imitates the others in the settlement. She looks up as the voice goes quiet.

“Ellie? You in there?”

“Oh... yes, sorry. Just, tired, I guess.”

A knowing look. “Bad dream?”

“Yeah. It’s fine though.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“Honestly, I’d rather hear about your plants.”

Dina’s face lit up as she began to talk about all of the crops she’s growing now, and her experiments with soil types and her plans for the greenhouse. Ellie smiles as she listens, soft morning sun rays warming her face as she eats and listens, seeing fruit in her mind that is ripe instead of rotted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, idk how long this is going to end up being. I plan on it being more than one chapter, but I don't really plan things out before I write. I wasn't going to write anything until about an hour ago, and then I had to get this out. I'm hoping that posting it will make me more likely to write more.  
> This was inspired by a discord group I'm in for TLOU, we were having thoughts about Gardener!Dina and gayness and then this happened.  
> Feedback is appreciated! I watch Critical Role which stars, among many others, Ashley Johnson (aka Ellie) and I think some of her characterization from that came off in here? I'm not really sure. Like, I hear the lines in Ashley's voice but I think it's from a different character, if that makes sense. But if it feels out of character, let me know please! It's been a while since I've played through LOU. I should do that soon......  
> Title is from that one pun Ellie says in game that's like "What did they green grape say to the purple grape? Breathe you idiot!" bc idk it's about fruit so...it fits.....?  
> Anyway, thanks for reading!


	2. Mustard

“You’re growing...flowers,” Ellie says.

“You’re very perceptive, hon,” comes Dina’s reply.

“Why? Can you eat them?”

Dina kneels in the dirt, inspecting the small yellow flowered-plant. “As a matter of fact, you can eat the leaves, and the seeds, but that’s not why I’m growing it. The mustard plant, among being edible, is one of the best plants to replenish soil. They’re called cover crops.”

“Isn’t it just dirt? Why does it need to be replenished?”

Dina turns and stares Ellie in the face, angry. “Soil is not the same as dirt. Soil is what gives us life. Soil is its own environment, filled with nutrients and microorganisms; dirt is... well, I guess it’d make sense to you if I said soil was like a person, and dirt like a corpse.”

Ellie nods, bewildered that anyone could get so worked up over a bit of di-- soil.

“When this plant is done growing, I’ll harvest the leaves and the seeds and then till them back into the soil. Their nutrients will sustain whatever I plant next in this patch.”

“Life from the dead. How poetic,” Ellie mutters.

Dina laughs. “Always so dark, Ellie. But yes, I do believe that about sums it up.”

Ellie opens her mouth to say something else but is interrupted by shouts from the other side of the settlement.

“I should go see what that is. Show me the rest of your plants later?”  
“Before you go, take this.” Dina picks a sprig of flowers from the end of a plant and tucks it behind Ellie’s ear. Her hand comes to rest on Ellie’s neck. “For luck.”

Ellie blushes and shrugs Dina’s hand off before leaving the mustard patch. Dina watches her leave, a small smile on her face, before she goes to grab the watering can. Ellie has her business in guarding the settlement, and Dina has hers in keeping them fed. Anyone could shoot a gun or use a blade, but there are few in the settlement who can speak to the soil like she can. Dina has no desire to kill any more than she already has. She enjoys her place among the soil and small the growing things.

Dina frowns, finding tiny holes in the leaf of one of the mustard plants. “Not on my watch,” she mutters. She’s going to have to break out the pesticide again. She hasn’t had a problem with pests since the strawberries a few weeks back. Last time, her pepper-flour mix seemed to work, so she began to make a new batch. She’ll mix it into the soil every morning until she harvests the mustard. Dina may not fight on the settlement walls, but she fights for her people in a different way. This patch of ground is her little battlefield, her plants victims of constant barrages from the world around them. They are her ward, hers to raise and keep safe. If she can do this successfully, she can protect the people around her.

Many overlook the necessity of farming. If her crops were to fail, her people would have to roam for food. This was how she could keep them the safest. Once she can convince them to raise livestock, they’ll never have to leave the safety of the walls.

Dina sighs, thinking of Ellie. She doesn’t think Ellie will ever stay safely inside the walls. Ellie is cut from a different cloth than Dina. Dina is perfectly capable of defending herself, sure, but it’s a means to an end for her. Ellie seems most alive in a fight. She craves the adrenaline, the action, the test of skill. Ellie flirts with death, dances on the edge of a switchblade. Sometimes, when Ellie leaves the settlement, Dina is afraid she won’t come back.

 _Perhaps there’s a way to keep her coming back,_ ponders Dina, overlooking her collection of seeds and tools. She has work to do before Ellie returns.

 

* * *

 

 

Water swirls red as Ellie washes her hands in the metal basins. One of the foraging runs had come across a cave filled with supplies and clickers. Caught unawares, they had run back towards the settlement, calling for aid. Ellie had arrived at the tail end of the fast fight and only took out one of the creatures. Threat neutralized, she had offered to return to the supplies with the foragers. It wasn’t much-- a few water bottles, some rope, 2 pairs of boots and a knife. Still, useful. Hannah had been bootless ever since she lost them in deep mud, so she’d be grateful for a replacement. By the time Ellie had returned to the settlement, it was late afternoon, so she decided to wash up and head for dinner.

As she arrives, she sees Dina wave her over to a table, 2 plates of food in front of her.

“What was the commotion about, El?”

“Jack and Robert ran across some clickers and decided to lead them back here. Nothing too exciting,” Ellie said, digging into a piece of roasted venison.

“Ha! Typical of those two. They can’t go anywhere without finding trouble. I don’t know why we keep letting them go anywhere together.”

“Please. You try telling Jack he has to stay behind while Robert goes ‘into danger.’ He’d flip a shit.”

“True enough. Those two have serious attachment issues... not that I blame them, though. If I ever found someone who loved me that much, I’d never want to leave them either.”

Ellie, cutting another piece of meat, misses the look Dina shoots her. “So, know what you’re going to plant next?” she asks.

“I’m probably going to give the potatoes a try in the main patch. I’ve never grown potatoes before, but they should be easy enough. And I’m thinking carrots, too. Oh! And I found some sunflower seeds lying around, so maybe I’ll do a row of flowers, too!”

“Sunflowers? Shouldn’t you be growing useful plants instead of flowers?”

Dina puts a hand to her chest, mock-offended. “Ellie! I’m going to pretend you didn’t just call sunflowers useless. Not only are they beautiful, which is reason enough to grow them, the seeds are an excellent source of nutrition when eaten on their own. They can also be made into oil to cook with, and the flowers themselves can be eaten, and-”

Ellie throws up her hands defensively. “Alright, alright, I get it, sunflowers are great!” she laughs.

“Damn straight,” grumbles Dina. “Oh! Before you go to sleep, I have something in the garden to show you.”

 

* * *

 

 

The garden lays in front of Ellie, bathed golden by the setting sun. “What are you showing me?” Ellie asks, and Dina takes her hand and pulls her over to the far corner. A small rectangle of land lies ploughed in front of them, and a display of seeds still in their labeled bags are laid out in front.

“This is your own little garden! You can plant whatever you want. I’ll help teach you how to raise them, but I’m not going to interfere. These little guys are on you,” Dina says. “Tell me what you want to plant, and I’ll tell you how to take care of them.”

Ellie looks at Dina, not knowing quite what to say. “I’ve never grown plants before, I’ll probably just kill them or something, I don’t want to waste your seeds--”

Dina cuts her off. “Nonsense, it’s not hard, you just have to give them a little daily love. I’ll show you.”

Dina takes her hand and pulls her to the ground as they start planning Ellie’s garden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is up, much earlier than I expected! 
> 
> Trying to get better at writing in Ellie's voice. We'll see how this goes.
> 
> Also bumping the rating up to T because Ellie has the mouth of a sailor.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Seedlings

On the fifth day Ellie sneaks out of the house before sunrise, Joel follows her.

He’s known she’s been up to something but hasn’t been able to figure it out yet. Among other things, Joel is stealthy. Following her subtly isn’t hard.

She reaches her destination just as the sun begins to rise- she’s at the garden, and she’s not alone. Dina is already there, crouching in the rows of produce, and Ellie goes to kneel next to her. They smile warmly and begin talking quietly, and their smiles are contagious, carrying over to Joel’s face. It’s been too long since he’s seen his girl smile so carefree. He ducks behind a nearby building, leaving them to their morning.

 

* * *

 

 

Another week goes by of this, Ellie spending her morning tending to the garden while she thinks Joel is asleep. One morning finds him awake early after a restless night and bad dreams, and he decides to head down to the garden himself. He pulls on a light coat against the cold morning air and begins walking through the settlement. After years of living here, walls had been built around the perimeter of the old neighborhood, offering excellent protection against the Infected. The settlement is a couple hundred people strong, now. It’s taken Joel time to get used to living in such a tight knit community, but he admits it has its benefits.

Dina is already in the garden area, doing maintenance on her tools. She looks up as he approaches.

“Didn’t expect to see you hear, old man. Can I help you?”

“Actually, I was wondering if I could help you,” Joel says, gesturing to the tools. “May I?”

“Be my guest!” Dina says, handing Joel a scythe and a sharpening stone as he sits next to her.

For a few moments, the only sounds are the quiet buzz of insets and the soft, repetitive _schick, schick, schick_ of the stone rasping against metal.

“So. You and Ellie, hunh?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“I think everyone in the settlement knows, or at least suspects. Everyone except Ellie, that is.”

Dina groans. “Help me out here Joel. Do I need to spell it out for her explicitly? Is she ever going to get the hint?”

Joel chuckles. “She’ll catch on, she just... needs time. The last time she was interested in someone ah, didn’t turn out great.”

Dina stops cleaning her pair of shears, looking over at Joel. “Do you know what happened?”

“I don’t know much, just what she’s told me but... she turned. I believe they both got bitten together.”

Dina takes a deep breath, then begins scrubbing away at a faint rust spot.

“Look, just... you take care of her.”

“You going to give me the over-protective dad talk, Joel?”

“No, none of that. Ellie doesn’t need me to protect her, as much as I wish she did. I just meant that...in this world, finding and staying with someone who makes you happy is rare. Cherish it and support each other.”

“Wow, that was a lot more touching than what I expected to come out of you, old man.”

“Yeah yeah, don’t make me regret it.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Quiet falls on them again, the comfortable kind of quiet that is only found in the early morning, before the world wakes up. As the sun begins to peek over the horizon, Ellie approaches the garden, right on schedule.

“I’ll leave you two to your morning, then. I’m going to go find something to bother Tommy about. I bet I can get Maria on my side, too.”

“Give your poor brother a rest sometimes, Joel,” laughs Dina.

“See you around, kid,” he says, waving goodbye over his shoulder.

Ellie sits next to Dina, looking between her and Joel. “What was that about? I doubt Joel has ever cared about plants in his life.”

“Are you kidding me? Mr. Texas himself? I promise you that man has lived on a farm at least once in his life.”

“Whatever you say,” snorts Ellie, beginning her morning routine. She inspects her little plants’ leaves for signs of insects or disease, picks a few sprouting weeds, and sprinkles water over the plants’ bases.

“Your radishes should be ripe in a few days, and maybe the lavender in the next two weeks. The others will probably tale a bit longer,” Dina comments.

“Good, this is taking forever.”

“Unfortunately for us, they don’t grow and spread as fast as spores do. They’re much better for you, though.”

Dina hops down off of the rain barrel she was sitting on and hands Ellie a hoe.

“Here you go, start digging another little plot. I want to make this one a flower garden. I need some variety.”

Half an hour goes by, Ellie now sweating and Dina’s plants watered and cared for. Ellie wipes an arm across her damp forehead, leaving a smudge of dirt that Dina finds incredibly cute.

“You got something on your face,” she says. “Let me help you.” Dina cleans her own hands clean on her pants, then wipes her thumb across the smudge.

Ellie looks down at her dirt-covered hands and smiles deviously before running them across Dina’s cheek.

Dina makes an affronted noise, crying, “I help you get clean, and this is the thanks I get? Fuck that!” she beds down, grabs a handful of loose dirt, and throws it at Ellie, who laughs as she tries to duck away.

They quickly devolve into an all-out dirt war, smudges and stains the proud battle wounds of their fierce combat. After getting smacked in the face with a particularly large clump of dirt, Ellie collapses on the ground, panting. “Now I have to go jump in the dam,” Ellie moans, shaking dirt out of her hair. “You got me all dirty.”

“You were already sweaty and gross, you would’ve hat do anyway. You can’t pin this on me,” Dina smirks. “I am the true victim here. I was actually clean before this started.”

“Aww, poor Dina the self-appointed farmer, got a few specks of soil on her. Who could’ve foreseen this? Whatever will she do?”

“I have an idea,” grinned Dina. “The dirtier you are, the cleaner I look!” She shoves with both arms, knocking Ellie to the ground. The momentum carries her forward, pinning Ellie underneath her. She almost laughs until--

“No, no get off me let me go!” shrieks Ellie, her arms flailing to push Dina off.

Dina rears back, hands in the air. “Ellie, what’s wrong?” she asks anxiously.

All Ellie can see are shattered plates, burning timbers and a bloody machete, her eyes tightly shut as she pushes herself into a standing position.

Dina stands along with her, slowly. “Ellie, hey girl, you’re alright, it’s just me. Just breathe, Ellie, breathe. Stay with me. Can you hear me?”

A nod, as Ellie’s breath slows.

“Can I touch you?” Another nod, hesitant but affirmative.

Dina reaches her hands out and takes Ellie’s, stroking the backs of her palms. “You’re here in the garden, with me, no one’s attacking you, ok? You’re ok.”

Ellie finally opens her eyes, the pupils slightly dilated. “I-I’m sorry, I don’t like being pinned down--”

“And I’m sorry for doing it. No more of that! We’ll keep our wrestling at a vertical.”

“Y-yeah, please,” Ellie laughs, breathy.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but I’m here to listen, ok, Ellie? Anything you need.”

“Let’s go wash off in the dam, and I’ll tell you,” Ellie says.

 

* * *

 

 

The two girls sit on the dam wall, wet clothes drying in the afternoon sun. Dina turns to look at Ellie.

“I think my next plant project is going to take me outside the walls.”

“What? Why?”

“I’d love to grow wheat, but we don’t have that kind of space within the walls. I’m thinking that clearing a ways up the river, the one Hannah found with the old shed. We could keep tools in there.”

“Clearing that field and ploughing there is going to make a lot of noise, might attract anything.”

“Well, that’s why I’ll bring you, of course. You’ll keep me safe.”

“Of course. Always.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3. So I wrote like the first 700 words of this.....and then I lost it all. Had to start completely over. I'm not happy about it.  
> But I am pretty happy with how this turned out, I think!  
> I am on vacation so updates probably won't be every day from here on out, but this AU has consumed me. I will be spending all of my free time thinking about it, if not writing it.  
> Feedback is welcomed! Thank you for reading!


	4. Ferns

As much as Ellie loves the solitude of the wheat field, she has grown to hate it.

The wind rustles the stalks too loudly, and the wheat itself grows too tall. It’s a perfect ambush site. Ellie never forgets extra weapons when she accompanies Dina to the field. I’d never forgive myself if anything happened to her.

The wheat is nearing its harvest.It has ingrained itself into Ellie’s daily schedule. Wake. Tend to her garden. Take Dina to the wheat fields. Return to camp in time for a watch. Afternoon patrol. Dinner with Dina. Sleep. Repeat. The weather is uncomfortably warm, and Ellie drags an arm over her sweating forehead.

Dina sees this. “You’re hot,” she smirks.

“Yeah, because it’s like a hundred fucking degrees out here. What do you expect?” Ellie replies, irritated.

“You could always just wear short sleeves, you know.”

Ellie looks down at her arms, covered as always in a jacket. “I don’t like looking at it,” she mutters.

Dina leans on the tool she’s using. “What if you got Helen to tattoo over it?” she asks. “My mother had an old scar from before the outbreak, she had gotten it tattooed over. Said it helped, and that a lot of people back then did the same.”

“What would I even get tattooed over it?”

“Well, I don’t know. Would you want it to mean anything, or just be pretty?”

“I’d rather just cut it off.”

“Well, you’re not cutting your arm off on my watch, so you’re going to have to pick a different option.” Dina goes back to digging.

“I’ll think about it,” Ellie says.

* * *

  
“Ellie!” Dina yells, bursting into her room. Ellie shoots up from where she was laying on her bed. “What? What’s happened?”

Dina waves an old book around. “Look what I found!”

Ellie stares at her for a second before groaning and falling back onto her bed. “What the fuck, Dina, I thought something was wrong.”

“You’re too cute to be so negative all the time! Now scoot over,” Dina says, plopping down onto the bed. “I found this old book, and it’s got a bunch of different gardening tips and weather forecasts and recipes and just everything but it also has stories and these little blurbs about symbolic meanings for each type of plant and I thought you could get some ideas for a tattoo!”

Dina begins flipping through the book, carefully but excitedly. It’s old, with most of the cover faded out, but Ellie can make out the word Almanac before it’s opened.

The next few hours pass in a blur of plant illustrations and (in Ellie’s opinion) ridiculous symbolism (how the fuck does lettuce symbolize having sex?).

“Well? See any you like?” Dina is smiling excitedly.

“I guess... ferns looked kinda cool.”

Dina flips back to the fern page. “This says they reproduce with spores, so that’s topical. Good luck, eternal youth... apparently in a place called New Zealand they represent new beginnings. I wonder where that is?”

“New beginnings... yeah, I like that.”

“This is going to be awesome. Oh hey, they have some bugs, too. Look at this one.”

Drawings of bees and ladybugs covered the pages. “Who knew there were this many kinds of bees?”

A few pages later revealed a large moth, wings spread several inches across.

In Appalachian folklore, groups of white moths symbolized that one’s ancestors were watching over and protecting them. Others believed that moths were the harbingers of death and destruction.

“Well, that’s versatile, I guess. I like that, too.”

Dina is leaning on her hand, resting her chin on Ellie’s shoulder as she reads the book in Ellie’s lap. Ellie is suddenly very aware of their position, and she looks up from the book. “Why are you doing all of this?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean... the garden, the walks, the book, helping me with this??

And Dina feels it then, finally feels her toes hanging over the edge of this cliff. They’ve only really known each other for a few months, but that doesn’t make the vertigo any less real.

“You want the truth?” Dina’s never been afraid of being brutally honest. Life is too short and unpredictable to be anything else.

Ellie nods.

“I’d say I liked you, but... It feels...more than that. Ellie, you’re slow to smile, but when you do, you light up the whole fucking room. You present yourself like just another face in the crowd, but when you’re around, you’re the only one I can look at. You’re magnetic. You fight like no one I’ve ever seen, but you also take time to care for the little things. You spend so much time on your little garden patch,” Dina laughs breathlessly, “I think you know all your plants individually now. I’m not like that. I see the bigger picture, I’m not afraid to weed out the weaker plants to let the stronger ones grow, but you... You couldn’t hurt those plants if you tried. You care so deeply for everyone around you, even if you don’t know how to show it. Ellie Williams, I’m in love with you. And if that makes you uncomfortable, that’s fine, we can stay friends, but... I want you to know that. I love you, and I’ll take however you choose to return that.”

Ellie stares. She stares for a long time, running her fingers over her bite scar. She stares until Dina is afraid that time has stopped.

And then she moves in and kisses Dina, soft and firm and clumsy and a little nervous but bursting with feelings.

Dina smiles against her lips, and presses closer, eyes shut against the dying golden light peeking through the bottom of the window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still alive, I promise! To everyone who commented, I love you!! You guys definitely gave me the inspiration to write this chapter, which didn't come as easily as the previous ones. I read every single one but I probably won't get around to replying to them all. Just know that your words were read and treasured!
> 
> Ahhh so I'm not totally happy with this, I wanted it to be longer and I wasn't expecting the end to happen that suddenly and going through the book feels not super realistic? But we're just gonna go with the fact that this fic is more of a series of quick glimpses we get into their lives, not every moment and so there was totally build up to everything haha.
> 
> I was trying to sleep but just. Could Not get these girls out of my head so I had to finish writing this chapter!
> 
> I'm probably going to do at least one more chapter? Not sure though! And no idea as to when that will happen.
> 
> As always, thank you for reading!!


End file.
